


Merry Christmas, Team Seven

by Kayim



Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - ATF, Alternate Universe - Modern, Christmas, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 14:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/598754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayim/pseuds/Kayim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This wasn't how Chris Larabee expected his Christmas Eve to go.  At all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas, Team Seven

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boogieshoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boogieshoes/gifts).



Chris politely shrugged off the offers of a post-work, pre-Christmas drink and slunk out of the ATF building as quietly as he could.

His new team had only been together for a few months but he was painfully aware that he was constantly comparing them to the now-disbanded Team Seven. Even now, Christmas Eve, would have been different. There was no way his team would have let him just leave like this. Buck and JD would have been smothering the office in tinsel and baubles, while Josiah and Nathan would have been driving them all insane with Christmas Carols. Even Ezra and Vin tended to get in on the holiday celebrations, sneaking enough egg nog into the building to make them all ill.

The journey home was quiet - enough people had already fled the chaos of the city for the holiday period that the roads were deceptively empty. He kept the radio turned off, not wanting to be bombarded with unwelcome memories. He would never forgive himself for allowing the team to be split up so easily, taking them all away from him.

As he pulled into the house, he noticed a multi-colored glow emanating from behind the curtains in the living room. Automatically reaching for his sidearm, he climbed out of the truck and headed to the door. 

He reached his hand out, but jerked it back when the handle turned from the inside.

"Chris!" 

The myriad voices overlapped each other, calling out his name, and various greetings. 

Chris stood still, his weapon still drawn, his eyes darting back and forward between the six people standing in his hallway. Each of them - with the exception of Ezra, he noted - wore a ridiculous red Christmas hat and held a glass of what looked suspiciously like the expensive whiskey Chris kept locked in his home office desk drawer. 

It was Buck who eventually pushed forward. "Thought we'd stop by, old dog," he said, taking the gun from Chris's hand and replacing it with a glass. "Knew you wouldn't be doing much tonight."

The rest of them - his team, his mind supplied helpfully - ushered him into the living room. Standing in the corner was a tree taller than any of them, decorated to within an inch of its life. As he turned around, he noticed decorations adorning every spare surface. 

But it was only when he'd completed a full turn of the room that he noticed the final figure, sitting quietly in the oversized leather armchair. 

"Director Travis," Chris said, the first words he'd spoken since entering this potential alternate reality. He had no idea what the rest of his team were doing there, let alone the director of the ATF himself.

Travis nodded and gestured for Chris to take a seat. 

"I wouldn't usually come to an agent's home to have this type of discussion but _some_ of your team," he looked across at Ezra who merely shrugged and smiled, "insisted that I give you the news as soon as possible."

Chris glanced at the rest of them, trying not to get his hopes up at Travis' use of the word 'team' rather than 'ex-team'.

"It's been decided," Travis continued, "that Team Seven's uniqueness offers something that the department is sorely lacking."

Without pointing out that it was their so-called uniqueness that caused the higher powers to disband them in the first place, Chris took a sip of the drink he'd been cradling in his hand. It was, in fact, the very expensive whiskey he'd kept hidden. He made a mental note to have a quiet discussion of his own with Mr. Wilmington. 

"For that reason, as of your return to work after the holiday period, your current team will be redeployed. And Team Seven will be reactivated. Should you wish to lead them again," Travis added, as an afterthought.

Chris considered stretching his reply out, making the boys sweat a little, but realized that he couldn't do it to himself. "I accept," he said with a smile. He stood up to shake Travis' hand. "And thank you, Director."

Travis shook his hand and then swallowed back the last of the whiskey in his glass. "I'll see you all bright and early on the Monday morning," he said to the group. "I'll see myself out."

He stopped as he reached the door of the living room.

"Oh, and Team Seven?" he said, the faintest outline of a smile on his face. "Merry Christmas."


End file.
